


Heart to Heart

by ThreeOuncesofWhoopAss



Series: Mighty of Arm and Warmest of Heart [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Comfort/Angst, Dorian mention - Freeform, Elf/Human Relationship(s), Emerald Graves, Emotional Support, Emotional bonding, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Nonsexual undressing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-18 15:24:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16997559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThreeOuncesofWhoopAss/pseuds/ThreeOuncesofWhoopAss
Summary: The Inquisitor returns from investigating the elven ruins in the Emerald Graves and her and Cullen have an emotional conversation that brings them closer together.





	Heart to Heart

It was late. From where she was on the battlements, Aeleva could hear faint sounds of laughter drifting over from the Herald’s Rest, where much of the Inquisition had by now retired if they were not in bed. She braced herself on the heavy door of Cullen’s office and pushed it open, slipping inside. Stacks of reports near the door rustled as the frigid wind rushed in. Aeleva shivered. The air inside the office was still brisk, but at least it provided shelter from the wind. Honestly she wasn’t sure how Cullen could stand it. Perhaps it was the armor he always wore. It was difficult to get cold underneath layers of steel and gambeson. 

Unfortunately for her, she had removed her armor hours ago when the healers were brought to examine her wounds. She leaned back forcefully into the door, shutting it with a dull thud. Closing her eyes, she released a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding, sighing much more aggressively than she’d intended. She had returned from the Emerald Graves earlier that day, and a potent sense of enervation gnawed at the edges of her mind. She resisted the urge to crumple down onto the floor. 

Reopening her eyes, she found Cullen sitting hunched over his desk, looking over a report with his fingers buried in his hair. He stood up when he noticed who had entered. The expression on his face was one of relief. They met each other in the middle of the room, Cullen pulling Aeleva into his arms. She sunk into his embrace, resting her head on his cloth-covered breastplate. They didn’t say anything to each other at first, simply allowing the comfortable silence to linger while they relished the nearness that they had been denied for the past weeks. She had seen him briefly earlier, but a combination of busyness and professionalism prevented them from making a public display of their affection.

“Hey,” she whispered to him.

“Hey.”

Aeleva lifted her head languidly and and reached up to slide off his mantle, placing it on the desk. She then reached down to undo the belt that kept the rest of the fabric cinched in place. She slowly removed his bracers and gloves, setting them next to his mantle on the desk. Bringing her hands to his sides, she unbuckled the rest of his armor, tugging firmly at the straps before pulling them back in the opposite direction. Cullen sighed heavily as the buckles came undone. Aeleva helped him draw the heavy cuirass over his head and brought it over to his armor stand as he sat down heavily in the chair behind his desk. Helping each other take off their armor at the end of a long day was a ritual they both enjoyed whenever they were able to do it. Usually, Cullen would take great care to inspect hers for any damage, almost to the point of paranoia. But tonight, since she was wasn’t wearing any, she retrieved clean nightclothes from his loft while Cullen finished removing the rest of the leather and gambeson. They embraced once again after he had changed into them.

Cullen spoke first.

“How were the Dales?” he asked tenderly, knowing that traveling to the homeland her ancestors had died trying to protect was always emotional for her. He pulled her back from him gently so he could examine her. She winced as his hand moved down her side. He paused and looked at her, still waiting for an answer.

“We may have run into some Fade rifts...and great bears...and maybe a few giants. Sometimes all at once. You should have seen it. Dorian held off a whole giant by himself while the rest of us closed a rift.”

Cullen’s eyes widened in bewilderment before narrowing in concern. “Maker.” His fingers lifted up the bottom of her tunic to reveal a large bandage covering her side. He was relieved to find that there was no blood soaking through it. 

“The healers didn’t have time to mend it completely after all the others. I told them I’d take care of it myself later.” She shrugged, but looked nervously at Cullen for his reaction. 

“All of the others?” Cullen muttered, mostly to himself it seemed. He drew her nearer to the fireplace in the corner of the room. It only took Aeleva a few seconds to light it, and heat burst upwards and surrounded them. Aeleva welcomed it. Slowly, Cullen drew the tunic over her head. His fingers moved over her skin, barely making contact. He soon found what he was looking for. Thin white lines made almost imperceptible by magic. His face fell. He should have known. He did know. He just didn’t want to think about it.

Cullen sighed, sitting down. His brow was furrowed in a mixture of concern and fatigue. He rested his face against her stomach, underneath her breastband. 

Aeleva spoke, turning her head away from him, suddenly feeling self-conscious. 

“I usually make sure everything’s healed completely before I come to see you...but it was so late this time and I wanted to see you. I-” She paused. She wasn’t sure why it felt so important to mention it, but the notion of sharing it with him had been hanging in her mind since they found what they did at Din’an Hanin. True emotional openness had never been her forte. She was much more given to suddenly oversharing her anxieties with unsuspecting listeners when she just couldn’t hold it in any longer and then swiftly changing the topic, hoping they’d forget that she’d said anything at all. With Cullen though, she tried. She fought past her tongue’s reluctance and continued speaking. 

“I wanted to tell you about something that happened there. Something I discovered.” She felt her shoulders tense as she said it. She took a breath willed them the relax.

Cullen looked up at her expectantly. “What is it?” Concern was evident in his voice. Feeling her shiver, he retrieved his mantle and wrapped it around her.

“Are you familiar with the story of Red Crossing?” she began.

Cullen nodded, thinking back to his Chantry lessons. “I was taught that the Elves attacked the village, starting the war that led to the fall of the Dales.” He spoke carefully. “Of course, that is just the Chantry’s version of events.” Recently, he had become increasingly aware of the Chantry’s biases. 

Aeleva nodded and walked across the room to a shelf that held a bottle of dark brown liquid. She opened it up and poured some into a glass that had been beside it. She took as big of a sip as she dared and swallowed with a cringe. She waited until her face was neutral again to turn around and walk back towards him. She set the glass down on top of the fireplace. “Growing up, I was told that the humans attacked first, after we rejected their missionaries.”

“That sounds plausible,” Cullen responded thoughtfully. 

Aeleva cleared her throat, preparing to speak. “While we were investigating the Elven ruins, Din’an Hanin, we uncovered the truth of what really happened.”

Cullen raised his eyebrows and his eyes widened. “Maker,” he breathed, looking her in the eyes. He waited patiently for her to continue the story.

“An Emerald Knight, Elandrin, whose sister had been killed by human hunters, had fallen in love with a human woman from Red Crossing. His clan feared that he was planning on converting to Andrastianism and would give away their secrets. A group of them led by his surviving sister went to the town in an effort to bring him back. When they arrived, they saw the human woman Elandrin loved running towards them. They-” Aeleva stopped and reached for the glass, taking another sip before continuing. “They shot an arrow at her and killed her. They probably thought she was hostile. When they went to her body she had a handful of daisies in her hand. Perhaps some sort of peace offering. She was holding a letter as well. A love letter, from Elandrin. He wanted to marry her. When the humans heard her cries they came and attacked the elves. Elandrin refused to leave her body and was killed by them.”

“Maker,” he said again, massaging his hairline with his fingers. “Have you told anybody this?” he asked.

“I gave the information to the Dalish clan that lives in the area. If the Chantry knew they would only use it against them. And besides, it doesn’t matter. It all happened seven hundred years ago and has no bearing on the state of things today. And anyways, I didn’t tell you for a history lesson.” She took a step closer to him. Cullen reached out and pulled her to him, his arms hung loosely around her waist. “I told you because it made me think of us.”

“Us?” He looked up and into her eyes, searching for something that would indicate to him what she was feeling. She surrendered into his embrace and sunk down into his lap, pulling his mantle tighter around herself and resting her head on his shoulder. 

Aeleva nodded. “You said before that it didn’t matter to you that I was Dalish.”

“It doesn’t,” he responded quickly. Aeleva put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. 

“I know,” she said back to him quietly. “And it doesn’t matter to me either. For the most part.”

Cullen’s concern was clear on his face when she said the last part. “What do you mean?”

“Just because we don’t care doesn’t mean that others will not. I worry about what my clan will think. Being involved with a human is, well, let’s just say that the Dalish opinion on it has changed little since Elandrin was alive. Part of me wonders if it even matters. As much as I miss them and my old life, I don’t think that I can ever go back after this. I don’t feel like I belong with them any longer, and knowing that is killing me. At the same time, I have no idea where else I could go. And that’s assuming I even survive this. I’ve never known anything but them, and now this.”

Cullen didn’t want to admit it, but hearing her say she wouldn’t go back to her clan after Corypheus was defeated filled him with an unexpected sense of relief, even though he knew that it shouldn’t. 

“I’ve felt the same way,” he started slowly. “I’ve been a soldier my whole life. I’ve been assigned to a Circle for most of it. Joining the Inquisition was the first choice I made for myself, about my own destiny. After everything that’s happened to me with the Templars, I can’t go back. I never intended to. But I also never gave thought to what might happen after...this.”

Aeleva adjusted her position so she could look him in the eye better. “Everyone will treat us differently, Cullen.” She reached her hands up to cup his cheeks. His stubble felt rough against her palms. He leaned his forehead down to rest against hers. “I’m afraid,” she confessed to him. Tears started welling up in her eyes without warning. She hated it when that happened and she couldn’t control it. Lately, it had been happening often. “There are times when I think I might be better off if I die fighting Corypheus.” She gasped as she fought back against the tears that threatened to start flowing beyond control. Cullen tightened his arms around her and pulled her hard into his chest. She buried her face in the crook of his neck.

“No,” he said into her hair, planting kisses on her head. “You wouldn’t be.” Hearing her say that, knowing she felt that, was heartbreaking. “Aeleva,” he whispered insistently. He cradled her head in his hands and made her look at him. “Aeleva, listen to me. I need you. I-” He paused to take a breath, looking deep into her eyes, which were shiney with tears. “I need you to make it to the other side of this. I know that that it seems impossible. It feels impossible to me too. It feels like we’re on a never-ending journey and at the same time it feels like there’s a timer over our heads that could go off at any moment. But you’re going to make it through this. Because I need you to. We’ll lean on each other, just like we have been. I’ll be your strength whenever you feel weak, just as you’ve been mine. Like you’ve been all of ours. I can’t even imagine how draining that must be for you, but it is something that I will be forever grateful for.”

Suddenly feeling bashful, Aeleva tried to look away, but Cullen held her head in place. “Look at me,” he continued, his voice gentle, “I love you. And after this is over, I know it will be hard, but we’ve been doing hard things since we met each other. How hard can it be dealing with snickering nobles after battling Corypheus?” Aeleva laughed quietly as Cullen smiled. His face always changed when he smiled. It seemed realer somehow. 

“Yes,” she said, still laughing, her voice stronger now, “really, they should be too afraid of us to give us so much as a sideways glare. For all they know, I might set them on fire for looking at me wrong.”

Cullen was laughing now too. “You certainly have the ability to.” He waited until they’re giggling had died down before going on. “Look, after everything that has happened to me, the last thing I care about is what people think. And after this is over, the only thing I’m going to care about is being with you.”

Aeleva stretched her neck upwards and kissed him. Their lips moved together for a few moments before she pulled away and smiled up at him contentedly. She used her fingers to wipe the remaining tears away from her eyes. Cullen looked down at her with eyes so soft it made her heart clench. The fatigue she felt earlier had returned, exacerbated now by the emotionality of the evening. “I think I’m ready to go to bed,” she told him.

Cullen nodded. “As am I.”

They made their way up the ladder to his loft, Cullen making sure to grab her tunic before he went up. They practically collapsed into bed together. Cullen drew a thick fur blanket around them as Aeleva rested her head on his chest. He wrapped an arm around her, and she could feel his muscles begin to relax and his breathing slow as she fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written using Aeleva Lavellan, my mage Inquisitor. I hope to add more stories featuring her at some point. This is the first thing I've written creatively at all in a very long time.


End file.
